Magical Science
by Katherine-Magnolia
Summary: Tara Maclay, a recent graduate of Yale University, is hired by the Stargate program. Only problem... she's the assisstant to Samantha Carter, who really doesn't want her there. Warning: SamTara pairing will occur Stargate SG1Buffy crossover
1. New To The Base

Tara Maclay, recent graduate of Yale University, brushed a lock of long blonde hair behind her ear and clutched her folder tightly against her chest. The fact that she wasn't able to move back to Sunnydale like she had planned hadn't fully registered yet. All that mattered was that she had been offered a job, an actual job! True, she was clueless on what exactly the job entailed, but she had been promised by the Air Force representative who had approached her that it was exciting and her intelligence would be put to good use. Plus, she had seen her first paycheck, and it was more than many graduate students, even ones with doctorates, could expect in their first five years. Much less their first month!

"Ummm, h-hi," she said as she walked up to the man waiting at her front door. "You a-already have a-all my things, r-right?" Damn, her stammer was going to give her trouble again.

The man nodded curtly. "Yes, Doctor Maclay. If you'll please come with me, then I will take you to the base. It should only take a couple of hours if we leave now."

Tara nodded again, sighing only a little when she thought of the pretty red-head with sparkling green eyes she was going to be leaving behind. _Willow will be fine,_ she told herself firmly, not for the first time. _She's a strong girl, and I'll still be able to visit her. This job can't last forever, right?_ But, for some reason, when she closed the door of her apartment, she felt like she was shutting the door on the part of her life that had dealt with Willow, Buffy, and the Scoobies.

"Right this way, Doctor Maclay," a young woman in uniform said as Tara exited the elevator. "Captain Carter is expecting you."

Tara nodded, shifting her shoulder strap so that her side bag rested more comfortably. She was already a little overwhelmed by all of this, according to the elevator she was multiple levels underground, and everyone who escorted her was calling her 'Doctor'. Yes, she had her doctorate's degree, but she had only had it for about a week. "E-excuse me," she said politely. "B-but could you t-tell me where e-exactly I am?"

To her surprise, the young woman did not even look surprised at her slight stammer. "Captain Carter will explain everything, it's not my job to do that." To take the bite off of the words, she smiled at Tara. "I'm Second Lieutenant Lisa Warren, and I'm going to give you a word of advice. Don't take the Captain too seriously right now, she's kinda-"

"There you are!" a tall woman with short-cropped blonde hair exclaimed, eyes darker than Tara's flashing as she stepped out of the next room. "I was wondering when you were going to get here, I have a briefing in two hours."

"Sorry Captain Carter," Warren apologized. "I brought Doctor Maclay straight here."

The woman, Tara guessed she must be Captain Samantha Carter, nodded. "Alright Second Lieutenant, you're dismissed. Ms. Maclay, if you'll come with me?"

Tara, who had been openly staring at Samantha, blushed and tore her eyes away before following the other woman into the next room. _What am I doing?_ she thought. _I cannot possibly be staring at this woman. I have a girlfriend - but that doesn't mean I can't think she's attractive... no! She's probably straight anyhow, isn't being gay illegal in the military?_ "H-hello," Tara said when Samantha had closed the door. She extended her free hand, the other still clasping the folder, and smiled. "I'm Tara Maclay."

Samantha eyed her hand for a moment before giving it a very brief shake, not returning Tara's smile. "Yes, _Doctor_ Maclay, isn't it?" The emphasis on 'doctor' made Tara cringe. "I'm Captain Samantha Carter, and I was informed yesterday evening that I'm supposed to show you all the ropes here. Oh, and that..." Samantha stopped, a look on her face that clearly said she was trying not to show how irritated she was. "If the Colonel can accept it, then so can I. You're to help me with my research, and come along on any mission on which we might require your aid." Samantha, who was starting to make Tara feel smaller and smaller, looked at Tara once again. "How old are you? Twenty-two, twenty-three?"

_This can't be happening,_ Tara thought, fighting to keep her head up. _Everyone was so polite, and now I get her!_ "T-t-t-twenty-seven, a-actually. C-captain C-c-carter."

"Speech disorder?"

Tara just shook her head, not wanting to show how much of a stammer she got when she was upset. That morning she had been excited, and now all she wanted to do was curl up in a corner. This woman wasn't just making her feel small, she was making her feel unwanted. And what had she done to her? All she did was shake her hand, smile, and introduce herself. All she wanted was to do her job and do it well. But if this was a sign of how everything was going to be, then she wasn't sure if she wanted to stay after all.

"Sit down," Samantha said shortly, pointing to a chair. "And I'll explain what it is we do here. It's just going to be a quick rundown, because I have a briefing to go to soon, but it will have to do. If it is not enough to satisfy you, then there are files you can go through until I get back. When I get back you will assist me, _doctor_, and I will explain anything else you need to know. Before I start, do you have any questions or requests?" Her eyes seemed to dare Tara to ask for someone else.

_That's what you want, isn't it?_ she asked silently, still not looking away. All thoughts that Samantha was even remotely attractive had fled from her mind, no one who was this rude to someone they didn't even know could interest her. _You want me to say that I want to have someone else explain so that you don't have to deal with me. Well I have news for you, captain, you're not getting rid of me that easily._ "N-no, C-captain," she said, sliding into her seat. "N-n-nothing at a-all."

Three days later, Tara's biggest problem wasn't that she was now dealing with things from other worlds, or that there was a gate that _led_ to those other worlds nearby, it was Captain Samantha Carter. Every time they worked together, which was every day so far, Samantha did everything possible to make Tara uncomfortable. If it had been just that, then maybe Tara would have been able to shrug it off, but it wasn't. The other three members of SG-1, and several other people on the base, took measures to avoid her, even when she tried to talk to them. She was starting to feel like she was in high school again, with everyone snickering about her behind her back. And it was making her regret that she had decided to take this job.

"Ahhh, so you've finally made it in for a check-up," a red-head with a pretty smile said as Tara walked into what she desperately hoped was the infirmary. "Doctor Tara Maclay, I assume?"

Tara nodded, brushing her hair back in what her friends from Sunnydale would have recognized as a sign that she was extremely uneasy. _I can't believe that I miss Sunnydale, and even the monsters that I had to deal with there. At least I knew that they wanted to tear me limb from limb._ "P-please just c-c-call me Tara," she stammered, crossing her arms across her chest. "I-I-I-I'm uneasy w-with that t-title still."

"Well, I'm Doctor Janet Fraiser," the red-head said, shaking Tara's hand and guiding her to an examination table. "And you can call me Janet, since I'm sure you'd be more comfortable with that. So, how have your first few days on the base been?"

"N-not good," Tara muttered, biting her lip.

"Uh-huh, I expected as much," Janet said, sighing. "See, Sam didn't want an assistant, especially not someone fresh from a university with no Air Force training. But General Hammond insisted on it, and Sam follows the orders she's given. Mostly."

_Sam must be Samantha Carter... come to think of it, I've heard someone call her that._ Not that she ever would, it was a nickname, and she definitely wasn't on nickname terms with the Captain. She wasn't even on first-name terms with her. "I-I-I've been t-trying, but i-i-it just doesn't s-seem t-to be good e-enough."

"That's Sam for you," Janet said, listening to Tara's heart. "Just keep at it, no matter how unwanted you feel, and show her that you're worth the effort. Though, if she actually read the file that she got on you, then she should already be impressed. Doctorate in physics, right?"

Tara nodded, pleasantly surprised that someone actually knew what her degree was in. Samantha hadn't seemed to think that she knew one end of a beaker from the other. "With a-a bachelor's in astrophysics a-and another in biology, c-chemistry as a minor."

"Hardly a stammer there," Janet remarked as she prepared to draw a sample of Tara's blood. "Seems to only be really evident when you're nervous or uneasy. Didn't you have a degree in something artistic, too?"

Flushing, Tara nodded, averting her eyes as the needle bit into her arm. She didn't like needles, but she wasn't deathly afraid of them like Willow. That brought a bit of a pang, she _missed_ her, but it was quickly suppressed. "P-painting," she admitted. "Not very sc-scientific, though."

"Quite the talented one, ain't she?" a man with gray hair remarked from his position near the doorway. "Now we just have to teach her how to fight and she might do us some good if we ever need to drag her along on a mission."

"Be nice, Colonel," Janet chided, pressing a cotton ball against the small puncture wound the needle had left. "Daniel wasn't a member of the Air Force, either."

The Colonel, Jack O'Neill if Tara remembered correctly, shrugged and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Doesn't matter much to me. Scientists are all the same, no offense meant, ma'm."

"N-n-none taken," Tara said, staring fixedly at the ground near her feet. She knew how to fight, being friends with a vampire Slayer tended to have that effect, but she wasn't about to tell anyone here about that. They might take it as a sign of insanity, despite the fact that they traveled to other worlds and fought things called Goa'uld, and she did not need that.

"I'll get you the full results in an hour or so," Janet said, patting Tara on the shoulder. "But from what I've seen, you're in perfect shape. Do you work out?"

Tara nodded, her face still slightly flushed, and hopped down from the table. When she tried to go out the door, though, she found herself face-to-face with Jack. Or rather, she found herself staring at his combat boots. "C-c-can I g-get t-t-t-through?" she managed, her stammer making her words hardly recognizable. She knew ranks, and Colonel was a very high one. To top it off, this same man had laughed when she had made a small mistake the previous day, and that tended to unnerve her.

"Soon as you say hello like a good little new person I've never met."

"You've met her," an all-too familiar voice remarked from behind the boots, and Tara only just kept back a groan. "She's the new doctor."

Despite what Janet had said, Tara did _not_ want to deal with Samantha Carter right then and her vibes of get-the-hell-away-from-me. So she did just that, slipped around Jack and walked down the hall as fast as she could without breaking into an actual run. Things had to get better, didn't they? Especially if she didn't let Captain Samantha Carter keep her down like she was do very determined to do.


	2. Cloudbursts Don't Last

"If I didn't know any better, then I'd say that you were irritated," Janet murmured as she slipped up behind Sam, her hands on the blonde's extremely tense shoulders. "Okay, I take it back, you _are_ irritated."

"Nice observation," Sam muttered, scratching out her last sentence.

"It's the new girl, isn't it?"

Sam sighed and leaned back against Janet, her eyes drifting shut. "Yes," she admitted. "We really don't need her on the team, all she does is get underfoot. She's eager to please, but half the time I can't even understand what she's saying with that stammer of hers. And I think she practices magic or something, I saw a pentacle hanging out of her shirt. What kind of scientist actually has a religion?"

"Aren't you being a little bit ridiculous?"

"No."

"I think that you are," Janet said, massaging Sam's shoulders. "Tara seems like a very nice young woman, a little shy, but if you'd give her a chance then I'm sure you could get along."

Sam turned her head and glared at Janet. "She's fresh out of a university-"

"That university would be _Yale_."

"One of her degrees is in art-"

"Painting, to be exact. And she is probably one of the most intelligent people on this base, including you and Daniel," Janet said, digging her nails into Sam's shoulders enough to make her flinch a little. "Tell me, did you even read that file you left on your dresser?"

"I skimmed through it," Sam admitted. "But I didn't feel the need to read it in-depth. Because all things must pass, and I have my doubts that she will last very long. After her first trip through the Stargate she'll cave and leave."

"Tara Maclay is a brilliant young woman with a lot of potential and you should be grateful that she hasn't requested to work with someone else already." Janet sounded genuinely upset, and that surprised Sam. "I doubt that she'll stay another week if you don't lighten up on her. You say she's always underfoot and that you can't understand what she says, but have you thought about all the work that you give her? I was leaving the infirmary at about three this morning, and she was in the lab, still working hard. From what I've gathered various others, she's been in there longer than that for the past week. I don't know when she gets the time to sleep, and she still manages to smile at practically everyone she passes."

Sam looked down at her page of equations, not really wanting to listen to what Janet had to say. The Stargate teams were supposed to be made up of four people, and the scientists on the base were strictly that. No one else had a 'special assistant' that worked for them alone. Sure, it had its uses, but Sam resented the implication that she needed some upstart fresh out of college to help her. "Maybe it'd be better if she was a general assistant, or permanently part of one of the SG teams. _I_ just don't want to have to deal with her."

"I think you feel threatened," Janet remarked.

"I don't think so."

"I do."

Mainly to shut her up, but also because she hadn't all day, Sam turned and kissed Janet. When she pulled back, she smiled. "I'm going to finish this up and then I'll see you in my room, okay?"

"This isn't over," Janet said warningly, despite the smile on her face. "Not until you accept her instead of working her like a dog."

"I-I-I-I don't t-think she ever w-will."

Sam's eyes widened and then narrowed when she saw Tara Maclay standing a few feet behind Janet, a folder clutched to her chest. _If she tells the General what she saw..._ Oh sure, Hammond and everyone else on base knew that Janet and Sam were an item, but no one spoke of it. The whole 'don't ask, don't tell' policy held together very well. "Done with the report, _doctor_?" she asked coolly.

"Y-yes," Tara replied, stepping around Janet to drop the folder in front of Sam. "A-a-and I t-think t-that you should know t-that I-I-I'm not asking for a-another a-a-assignment, n-no matter how y-you treat me." She may have been stammering as bad as ever, but there was determination in her eyes.

"Good for you," Sam said. "Now why don't you go find someone else to bother?"

"I-Is s-s-she always like t-this?" Tara asked Janet.

"No," Janet replied, giving Sam a look that clearly said she disapproved. "Most of the time she's really rather nice and well-behaved. You, however, seem to bring out the worst side of her. I don't know how you do it, but I'm hoping that it's like a virus that her body will build up an immunity to."

Tara tilted her head, a crooked smile appearing on her face. She gave Janet a little wave before ducking out the door without another look for Sam, which the Captain was more than grateful for.

"You won't give up until I like her, will you?" Sam demanded when Tara was well out of hearing range.

"No," Janet corrected, tapping Sam on the side of the head. "I won't give up until you admit that she's smart, and nice, and that you should at least respect the fact that she's a civilian like Daniel who was chosen to work with us."

"She's just a minor thing," Sam insisted as Janet started away. "Really, Janet, she is. By the time the end of the month comes she'll be gone and no one will remember the 'brilliant young scientist working with Captain Carter.'" Silently, she added, _I hope._


End file.
